


Spring in the Air

by pikalex88



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, literally just fluff, which I’m no expert in but I think they’re neat!, with flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikalex88/pseuds/pikalex88
Summary: Short and sweet - Harry does something nice for Kim but maybe gets a bit carried away.
Relationships: Harry Du Bois/Kim Kitsuragi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Spring in the Air

Kim raps his knuckles on the door at 7 pm sharp. Smiling fondly at the muffed "shit, be right there!" and thumping of Harry collecting himself, finally throwing open the door with a goofy grin, "Kim! Hi!" The way Harry's eyes light up and take in Kim standing there as if he were some wonderful new gift from the universe, despite this being hardly their first date, is enough to start threatening a flush and so he clears his throat, "khm, yes, hello Harry... are you ready to go?"

At this it is _Harry_ who blushes, suddenly sheepish. "Well... I have something for you first actually." Surprised, Kim mentally flips through lists to find any notable dates he might have missed - which the human can opener of course seems to sense, blustering - "not for any reason really! Not anything big, it's just something small, I thought it might be nice, you know just a little appreciation of you and how much you mean to me and you know..."

As he blabbers, Harry makes no move to leave the doorway. Kim notes he is also not holding anything in his hands, which gesture nervously as he talks.

"Harry. You didn't have to do anything, but thank you. I’m sure whatever it is, it’s delightful." Relieved and rambling put to a stop, Harry just grins.

They stand in the doorway. The spring chill seeps into Harry's apartment. He makes no move to do anything about this.

"Do you... need me to come in?"

"Right! Yes! Sorry!" Harry springs into action, stepping back to let a bemused Kim in behind him. They make it all of a few steps into the apartment before Harry stops again, turning around, blocking the doorway to the living room like he's hiding something incriminating.

"Listen Kim, I just, I thought it was a good thing for a date but there were so many options to consider-"

"Harry. I'm sure it's fine," Kim cuts him off, deciding to take control of this situation before his partner talks himself into a panic, pushing past Harry into... a greenhouse?

Flowers and plants of various kinds are placed on pretty much every flat surface. Dark and sultry burgundy roses. Soft pink carnations nestled in sprigs of baby's breath. Alien and delicate orchids suspended like butterflies along a vine. A squat and **very** pointy cactus crowned with a pink bloom. A small pot with what Kim thinks might be the seedling of a... lemon tree?

"I couldn't make up my mind, they're all so pretty," Harry laments from Kim's side, glumly surveying his botanical abode.

The contrast - Harry's scruffy hangdog look amongst the perfumed air of this floral wonderland - is too much and Kim cracks, doubling over in laughter, clutching at Harry's arm to stay upright. The relief is like the sun coming out from behind the clouds as Harry joins in, trying to talk but wheezing with laughter. "Oh gods Kim... you should have seen.. _oh fuck_... they had to lend me a _wheelbarrow_ , I told them I was having a party. I think they thought I was some rich eccentric bastard, I thought the tree guy was gonna kill me when I didn't know how well drained my soil was, I just made shit up, if he knew I didn't even have a yard he would've done me in with his shears on the spot I swear Kim, stop laughing, I could have _died_ it would have been _murder_."

At this point Kim gives up and lets go of Harry's arm, sinking to the floor to pull off his glasses and wipe at his eyes. "Stop, stop," he protests through laughter, clutching his ribs, and Harry flops down next to him on the floor.

They both catch their breath, Harry occasionally getting going again with a giggle and Kim lightly slapping his leg before he sets them both off. Finally he puts his glasses back on, sitting cross legged on the floor, Harry in a pile of limbs next to him. Breathing deeply from the nearly overwhelming smell of so many flowers in one room - he hasn't stepped often into a florists or greenhouse, but it smells like the dream of spring, fresh and clean. It's with wonder that he takes in the plant life around him, noting what he can name, and what he doesn't even recognize. Open and without self consciousness, unaware of how Harry looks adoringly up at his face as he takes in the beauty around him.

Gently, he reaches out and brushes a finger along the petals of the flowers in the nearest bouquet. Tracing the delicate curve of a tulip, unbelievably soft and cool to the touch, admiring the subtle streaks of pink through the white. The trumpet of a daffodil, announcing itself boldly, and the contrast of the dipping yellow petals surrounding it which drape over his fingers like silk as he touches them. Feeling the broad curving green leaf that arcs out of the vase, firm and with a rough edge that feels like it could almost cut. A marvel, so many colours and textures in this fleeting living thing.

He feels solid warmth against his back as Harry sits up and moves snug behind him - a familiar touch that he leans back into without so much as a flinch even distracted as he was. Harry reaches past him and plucks a stick from the vase, dotted with soft fuzzy grey buds.

"Do you know this one?" His voice is soft, chin hooked over Kim's shoulder.

"Mmm. Pussywillow, common in the spring. Traditionally part of the building of the icon for the feast of Sola, they'd be easy to find right now." Memories of the smell of the oil lamp, the careful and precise measuring of angles, a meditation in the ritual if not in the sentiment behind it. Always more treated as going through the motions compared to the true sentiment in days dedicated to that greatest of the Innocenses, but the honesty of that minimalism spoke to something in him as a child.

"Yes, a flower that isn't a flower. A stick and not a stem. Strong enough to weave with you know, they make wreaths with them in Graad. But do you know what else to do with them?"

Kim shakes his head, watching as Harry breaks off a fuzzy catkin from the branch, holding it carefully between his fingers. He freezes a little bit as Harry's hand comes up to his face but doesn't stop him, as Harry very slowly and carefully... rubs the bud against the side of Kim's nose, in a circular petting motion.

"What are you doing?"

"Rubbing it on your nose. That's what you do with pussywillows." Smug, like this is some secret knowledge he's imparting.

"And... why is that the thing to do?" Kim doesn't mind, exactly, it's a surprisingly pleasant sensation - the fuzz of the catkin feels unbelievably soft, like the most luxurious of furs.

"The nose is best at feeling soft things," Harry states as if this was a basic fact. Kim runs a finger along a catkin and does have to admit, it doesn't feel nearly as soft to his fingers as it does where Harry has continued to brush it softly along his nose, sometimes curving out to run along his cheek, gentle tickling trails.

"It seems you're right - you've taught me something new again detective," Kim half teases, and Harry rumbles with delight and wraps his arms fully around Kim, pulling him snug to his chest.

"Thank you Harry. It's all beautiful. We'll have to see tomorrow what we can do to make sure it does all get taken care of. I'm not sure where we'll find someone able to grow a fruit tree, but I would rather we avoid a murder. Too much paperwork. For now, dinner?"

"..."

"You spent your paycheque on flowers, didn't you." A statement, not a question.

"... Yes. Did you know flowers were so expensive Kim? But once I'd picked them out they would've been so _sad_ if I just left them there."

"It's fine Harry," Kim says, getting to his feet and offering Harry a hand up. After a moment of consideration, he pulls a small folding utility knife from his pocket and with a careful slice and snap cuts a sprig off a miniature rose bush, a perfect red bloom at the end. He tucks it into the buttonhole of Harry's blazer. "There. Now I can enjoy your gift all night."

Harry's blush matches the colour of the rose but his grin is wide and confident as he reaches out, taking Kim's hand in his own, and leads him without further hesitation out and into the cool spring air.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by me buying five types of flowers for date night with my swain because choosing things is hard. And also you can’t have too many flowers. I wrote it in one go and hope it just brings a little bit of comfort in your day.


End file.
